In 1980, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was invented in psychiatric terminology when it was included in the american Psychiatric Association (DSM-III) diagnostic classification. Until then, there were many definitions and diagnostic categories of soldier syndrome.
During World War I, there was talk of “trench fever,” or heart action disorder, to try to explain the changes associated with combat stress. During World War II, the concept became “traumatic warfare neurosis”.
- In the Vietnam War.
- The term went from “reaction to great stress.
- “”Adaptive disorders of adult life”.
- After this event.
- It became post-Vietnamese syndrome.
It was because of this war, and through social pressure, that this concept was eventually redefined as PTSD and became an important diagnostic entity in the anxiety disorder group. In this article, we’ll talk about PTSD as a soldier’s syndrome because it comes from a context army.
We have all experienced stressful or traumatic situations, in this sense, when stressful circumstances are of a certain intensity and nature, cause a sudden and total imbalance of the psychic structure, as well as a blockage of the ability to adapt and defend the environment.
That is, the situation ends up beating the person in all its aspects and is unable to respond in an adapted way. In this way, “traumatic stress” is established.
Causes of Welder Syndrome or PTSD are environmental experiences or circumstances that can cause psychological trauma. Generally, this syndrome develops as a result of exposure to traumatic stressors that pose a serious threat to the psychological and physical integrity of the individual.
To this we must add the subjective perception of fear on the part of the person and his attribution of personal inability to deal with this situation.
Several causes of weld syndrome or PTSD can be distinguished
Anxiety, depression, feelings of guilt and sadness are some of the most common symptoms of this disorder, the most characteristic symptoms can be divided into four large groups:
Relive the event over and over again is very common, emotions and physical sensations can be as real as the first time, any daily event can trigger flashbacks, especially if it is related to the traumatic event.
Constantly reliving and thinking about the traumatic event distracts them, and they tend to avoid places and people that remind them of what happened and talk about it.
The way they deal with pain is to refuse to feel anything and close emotionally to avoid suffering.
The person is constantly alert, defensively, constantly feeling in danger. This is called hypervigilance.
The person becomes very negative about everything around him and about himself, feelings of guilt arise and is unable to feel positive emotions or feelings, can become aggressive, violent, very easily irritable and exhibit reckless and impulsive behavior.
In the military field, several aspects are interfering with soldier syndrome or PTSD, elements that, in many cases, intensify symptoms and hinder clinical intervention.
Treatment of weld syndrome or PTSD in the military context increases its effectiveness when it starts immediately after the traumatic event, helping to reduce discomfort and complications that can occur.
A technique widely used in this regard is debriefing, which serves to integrate and publicize the traumatic events experienced by the group.
Another very important tool is psychoeducation; with it, symptoms can be anticipated. Training psychotherapy is a very positive tool to prepare soldiers for what they can find.
The priority in the application of psychotherapy is that it adapts to the circumstances of each person, this can be done individually or as a group, being the second possibility very effective when the groups are very homogeneous.